


hope underneath the grey sky

by yeswayappianway



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Animal Transformation, M/M, Snakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-27 05:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15018107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeswayappianway/pseuds/yeswayappianway
Summary: “Uh, hi,” an unfamiliar voice says, and that's when Alex finally opens his eyes. It’s Will’s name on the screen, but that’s definitely not his voice. Alex holds the phone back to his ear and catches, "…yeah, sorry for calling you.”Alex sighs. “What happened to him?”“He, um... He turned into a snake? We think?” the voice says tentatively.





	hope underneath the grey sky

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [sleeperservice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeperservice/pseuds/sleeperservice) in the [PuckingRare2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PuckingRare2018) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> A is an animal shifter; B takes care of him during an involuntary shift.
> 
>  
> 
> Much thanks and love to remiges for the beta, and thank you to sleeperservice for the prompt!
> 
> title from Little Nightmares, by Brian Fallon
> 
> some [picture links](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v151/Sasami/pets079.jpg) for [images](https://hugsandhisses.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/7251757218_d23e85bd12_b.jpg?w=490&h=327) of [ball pythons](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/huXUojiPYI0/maxresdefault.jpg) and source links (http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/f88/pictures-my-ball-python-52401.html, https://hugsandhisses.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-normal-ball-python/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huXUojiPYI0).

It’s early when Alex hears his phone ringing. Like, too early to even try to comprehend the time, beyond just really fucking early. But even in his mostly asleep state he recognizes the ringtone—or maybe recognizes is a strong word—and knows he’s supposed to answer it.

After fumbling around on the nightstand, Alex manages to find his phone. He doesn’t even open his eyes, just swipes wildly and holds it to his ear.

“Hello?” he asks. 

“Uh, hi,” an unfamiliar voice says, "I don't know…" and that's when Alex finally opens his eyes. He holds the phone away from his head, squinting at it. "It's kind of weird," the person on the other end of the line says faintly, and it’s Will’s name on the screen, but that’s definitely not his voice. Alex holds the phone back to his ear and catches, "…yeah, sorry for calling you.”

Alex sighs. “What happened to him?” It comes out rough and probably a bit garbled. Mornings are not Alex’s strong suit, especially when it should really still be night.

“He, um... He turned into a snake? We think?” the voice says tentatively. Alex briefly wonders which teammate it is, then decides he doesn’t care.

“Okay, just keep him warm. He won’t wander off or anything, so just take him outside and let him bask for a while. I’ll be there soon.” He thinks he hears whoever’s on Will’s phone start to ask another question, but Alex hangs up. He rolls onto his back and closes his eyes. Of course, he thinks, it’s just that kind of year. Of course he’s going to go to Vegas, where the Knights are breaking all kinds of records and still playing in May, while Alex has all kinds of time after the Jackets couldn’t make it out of the first round once again.

He lays there for a few minutes, alternately feeling sorry for himself and trying to figure out what he needs to pack for a few days in Vegas. Then he sits up and starts looking up flights from Sweden to Las Vegas on his phone.

\-----

By the time the plane is getting ready to touch down in Las Vegas, Alex has learned via a very formal text message that Jonathan Marchessault is the one who'd called him, and Marchessault has also sent him the address of Will’s apartment in case he doesn't already have it. Alex does, but he gets a messy, jumbled feeling in the pit of his stomach at the idea that Will’s teammates think he doesn't. He starts to wonder what they think of him being Will’s ‘call in case of random ball python transformations’ number, and then decides not to, for his own peace of mind. Hopefully, he'll be able to ask Will himself soon. As far as Alex knows, Will has never stayed shifted for more than a day, but he also doesn’t usually change involuntarily. 

There’s actually a lot about this situation that Alex doesn’t like.

The airport is absolutely filled with Knights merchandise. Alex tries to ignore it, focus on making his way through the maze of gates and getting an Uber, but it’s hard to miss the two-foot tall picture of Will’s face staring at him over a stand of mugs. 

Will is famous, he realizes. Like, sure, Alex had known that, but it’s strange to think that Will is a recognizable celebrity here and Alex is nobody. In Columbus, neither of them had gotten recognized very often, but it was the same for both of them. Now it’s very much not. Alex hunches his shoulders and walks quicker, away from all of it.

The ride to Will's building is unremarkable, air-conditioned and easy in a way that Alex thinks the rest of his stay probably won’t be, and he’s grateful for it. When the driver gets there, Alex barely makes it out of the car before she zips off. He makes his way around the building to the front doors, following his memories of when he was here over the All-Star break. He hadn’t been paying that much attention, more focused on Will, but luckily navigating is easy enough.

Alex doesn’t make it far inside before he’s greeted by a figure standing up out of a chair in the lobby and moving to intercept him. “Hi,” Marchessault says, and Alex nods. Marchessault falls into step with him, guiding Alex toward the elevator. He’s obviously been here before, and Alex hates him a little for it. 

Neither of them says anything on the ride up. It’s incredibly awkward, and Alex can’t help but feel like he’s done something wrong, though he has no idea what he could have done. 

When they reach Will’s room, Marchessault knocks, and before Alex can ask if there’s anything he should know, the door opens to reveal what looks like a fourth of the Golden Knights’ roster standing around.

“Oh, thank god,” says Schmidt. “I hope you know what to do because, honestly, snakes freak me out, man.”

Alex doesn’t take the time to appreciate that Schmidt actually seems glad to see him. He just pushes through the small crowd until he sees a familiar light- and dark-brown shape curled up to about the size of a dinner plate in a patch of sun on the carpet. He sighs in relief. It looks like they’ve mostly left Will alone, which is good. Alex has learned since becoming friends with Will that people have some wild ideas about what snakes need.

“When did he change?” Alex asks, not really looking at anyone. He doesn’t get an answer immediately, and when he finally lifts his eyes from Will’s snake form he realizes the team looks… suspicious, maybe. Shit.

Engelland is the first to speak up. “We called because Will had a note to call you in case of a weird emergency, and I guess we know what that means now, but why are you here? It’s a lot of effort to fly out here when you could have just given us some instructions on what to do.” He doesn’t sound happy, but if Alex had to guess, he sounds more confused than anything.

Trying not to think about how much it hurts that he apparently has to explain this, Alex says, “Because I’d be a shitty boyfriend if I didn’t show up for Will now.”

Engelland looks taken aback, and there’s a quiet sound of surprise behind Alex. _Oh_ , Alex realizes, _they had no idea we’re dating_.

Suddenly their confusion about him showing up makes a lot more sense, but it makes him feel even worse. Had Will been… keeping him a secret? Alex doesn’t want to think that Will hadn’t felt comfortable telling his team, but it beats any of the alternatives. He wonders what Will _had_ said about him, and looks over to Marchessault, reevaluating his cold reception. Marchessault is, surprisingly, smiling at him, and Alex considers that maybe he knew a little more about what was going on than everyone else. Alex wishes desperately that he could ask Will, check in with him, but of course he can't. If he could, Alex wouldn’t be here.

“So does that mean you know how long this will last?” someone asks, and Alex realizes as he turns to look that it’s Fleury. Alex holds back a dismissive snort. Probably only cares because Will’s the leading scorer, he thinks bitterly. Will has said nothing but good things about Fleury since the pre-season, but Alex can’t bring himself to like him. Still, it’s probably what everyone wants to know.

“I don’t remember him ever changing for longer than a day, but Will also doesn’t usually shift on accident, so I can’t tell you for sure,” Alex answers.

Fleury frowns, and someone next to him—Smith?—says quietly, “Well, shit.”

Alex doesn't know what else to say. He bends down to look at Will and avoid the hushed conversation happening around him. When he reaches down to touch Will gently, Will moves slightly, flicking out his tongue and turning his head toward Alex. Alex smiles.

“Hi, Will,” he says, ignoring how ridiculous he must sound. And Will, in a move that Alex is definitely going to have to thank him for once he’s human again, unwinds and lies his head on Alex’s wrist to begin curling up his arm. Shortly, he’s wrapped around Alex’s forearm and seems perfectly content to stay there, flicking his tongue out happily against Alex’s skin.

“Huh,” says probably-Smith, just as Marchessault says, “Well then.”

Schmidt comes a little closer, still keeping a wary distance from Will, and asks, “If you’re gonna stay here with Bill, do you want our numbers in case you need anything?”

\-----

The thing Alex had forgotten when he was packing for Vegas is that his usual source of entertainment is currently a python. And sure, Will’s cute enough as a snake that Alex wastes a decent amount of time taking pictures of him, but there’s only so far that can go. He debates making an Instagram just for shots of Will curled up around things, but that’s something he should probably consult Will on first. Probably. So instead, he plays with putting different filters over the pictures and saves them to his phone. There’s really no one to send them to. 

Alex is tired of being questioned all season, over and over, if he and Will are really doing okay, especially when he has doubts of his own. Their team—fuck. _His_ team is a bunch of nosy assholes who probably have Alex and Will's best interests at heart, but Alex is fucking tired of it. It’s summer, he’s allowed to make bad decisions in private.

But is this a bad decision? That’s the question, isn’t it, he thinks. On the one hand, Will still thinks of Alex as his emergency contact, and it’s gotta suck to randomly turn into an animal when you’re in the middle of a playoff run. On the other hand, Alex probably could have told the Knights how to take care of Will from Sweden, and maybe dropping everything to run off to Vegas is a little desperate. But—they’re still dating, is the thing. 

Alex knows everyone expected them to break up after Will got drafted by Vegas, and it’s definitely been hard, but they hadn’t even considered it. Will had spent all summer talking about how to keep track of time zones when they were both travelling, and Alex had read a bunch of shitty articles on how to have a healthy long-distance relationship, and they’d made grand plans for the two games they had against each other. But then the season had started and a lot had happened, including Will ending up third in the NHL in scoring and Alex getting injured not once, but twice. It’s not like they stopped talking, but things definitely got a little more awkward.

Alex sighs. He hopes that next year will be different, since they’ll no longer be adjusting to being apart. He has to hope that, because in a lot of ways, this year sucked.

When he looks for Will, he finds him exploring under the couch. It’s pretty cute, but Alex wonders if WIll is going to come out covered in cobwebs. It’d still be cute, he decides. 

Alex is sitting on a pillow in front of the couch, so he figures he’s close enough to keep track of Will whenever he appears again. He idly opens up Twitter and spends a while fucking around on there, scrolling through threads he doesn’t particularly care about. He considers texting Murrs, but he doesn’t really want to talk about what he’s doing, which Murrs will definitely ask. It’s probably just easier to not do that.

“I wish you turned into a dog," Alex says toward the couch. "This would be a lot easier. I could just take you to a dog park.” Alex knows he’s rambling and that Will can’t respond, or maybe even understand, but it feels good to talk anyway. “Maybe there aren’t any dog parks here. Probably too hot. How do you live here, anyway, aren’t you melting yet?” 

Will still hasn’t re-appeared from under the couch, so Alex sighs again and lies down on the floor to check that Will hasn’t, like, snuck off down an air vent.

There’s a moment where Alex can’t see any hint of a snake, and his brain starts going into panic mode before he notices a brown tail heading out the other side of the couch. Standing up, Alex crosses the living room quickly and picks up Will as he heads for the kitchen.

“No way,” he says, shaking his head at Will, who continues his determined effort to get to some unknown destination. “You don’t need to eat, and kitchens have lots of dangerous things, like knives and fridges and garbage disposals. Come here, I’m gonna skype my parents. You can say hi.” 

Will looks up at him and yawns. Well, it’s not yawning apparently, just a thing snakes do. And Alex knows pretending animals act like humans is bad, but this snake literally is a human most of the time, so Alex decides he can be forgiven this time. He fishes his laptop out his bag, which is laying in the living room, then flops onto the couch—still cradling Will to his chest—and texts his parents to see if they’re awake to talk.

\-----

For the second time in as many days, Alex is woken up by someone trying to get his attention. He has a feeling it might be the same person, and sure enough, when he stumbles to the front door Jonathan Marchessault is on the other side. 

“What?” Alex asks flatly.

Marchessault stammers out, “Um,” and vaguely gestures at Alex, who’s perfectly aware he’s shirtless. Alex wonders if it’s discomfort or interest. Either way, it’s fucking annoying.

“Did you have something to ask, or were you just going to stare?” snaps Alex.

Clearly trying to get his thoughts back in order, Marchessault shakes his head. “Yeah, I just wanted to know if Bill’s back yet.”

That's the only thing he really could have been asking, and yet Alex doesn’t have a good answer for him. “Well… no.” Marchessault’s shoulders fall at that.

“Is there—is there something we can do? A way to fix this? Because we have to play hockey, and we need him.”

Alex shrugs. He doesn’t know, because they’ve never had to deal with this before—Will has always changed back within a few hours. Alex is fully prepared to blow Marchessault off, but he sees something in his face that makes him wonder if this isn't just about hockey. He thinks about what it would be like to have a teammate suddenly disappear and not be able to talk to them, or even know if they were ever going to get better, and Alex feels like a dick for the way he’s acting.

“Yeah, no, um… I don’t know. Uh, usually if he changes on accident, it’s because he’s tired or stressed or something like that. So maybe if there’s something stressful going on?”

Marchessault stares at him. “Well, we’re playing in the conference finals, that might do it.”

Fuck. For a moment, Alex had forgotten. Well, no, he hadn’t, because he’s in Vegas and he’s talking to someone he’d never even spoken to before yesterday, but he’d forgotten anything happening outside the bubble of Will’s apartment.

Maybe it’s obvious from the look on his face, or maybe Marchessault has some idea about what Alex is going through, because he says, more gently than anything else so far, “You can’t go back in time, you know.”

Alex wants to tell him to fuck off, that’s not what he wants at all, but it really kind of is. He misses playing with Will, hanging out together, falling asleep in the same bed instead of at different times across the country. Misses kissing him whenever he wanted instead of having to wait all year for two, or maybe three or four chances to be in the same place.

“Fuck. Yeah, okay, I’ll see what I can do. Give me a few hours and then I’ll give you a call. Hopefully, you can talk to Will then.” Alex genuinely doesn’t know how to get Will to change back, but he owes it to Will to try.

Marchessault nods. “Sounds good,” he says, and walks away. Before he reaches the end of the hall he turns back to Alex. “It’s good of you to do this. I’m glad he has someone like you to take care of him.” Alex doesn’t know how to respond, and Marchessault doesn’t really give him a chance, just turns the corner and disappears.

\-----

Alex gets back to Will’s room and stares at the snake coiled on his pillow. He’d been worried about leaving Will out all night—what if he got bored and wandered off?—but he’d put Will on the bed next to him and asked him to please stay there and it worked.

“What am I going to do with you?” he asks. “I’m used to dealing with you as a snake, and you’re a very cute snake, but… this seems really long. And I’m worried about why you’re spending so long as a snake, when you should be with your team.” Alex sits down on the bed, cross-legged, still looking at Will.

“I just hope you’re okay. I know we didn’t talk as much as we should have this year, and I know I was a baby about you being in Vegas, and, fuck, I hope I didn’t make you think you couldn’t talk about shit with me. I just…” He trails off, feeling embarrassed for what he's about to say, even to a possibly sleeping snake.

“I feel like you outgrew me. We planned to stay together, and we did, and I know you love me because you fucking told me that every time we talked, but that doesn’t mean we fit together anymore. And you did so well this year, and… what do you need me for?” He looks up at the ceiling. “You told them to call me for this, and I can’t even help. What’s the point of me even being here?”

Alex had expected to feel angry, maybe bitter, when he finally got this all out, but now… now it’s just making him sad. He just wants Will to be here, for real, as a person. The snake is very cute, and Alex has learned to love it, and he knows way more about taking care of snakes than he'd ever expected to, but it’s not helping the feeling of abandonment that’s been building in him all year. He doesn’t know what to do.

Will moves slightly, wiggling further across the pillow. Alex very gently picks him up, and Will’s tongue flicks out inquisitively. It tickles Alex’s cheek as he brings Will up to eye level. He kisses the snake’s nose and tries to keep his mind blank, shoving away thoughts of cheesy fairytale endings. 

Nothing happens other than Will wiggling around in his hands. Alex smiles faintly at Will, then puts him down on the other pillow, and decides to go back to sleep. If he's going to make a plan for getting Will back, he needs to be well-rested.

\-----

Unlike earlier, Alex has no trouble remembering where he is when he wakes up, because it’s hot as fuck. What does take him a moment to recognize is that there’s a reason for that, beyond being in Las Vegas. When Alex turns his head, he sees Will curled around his back, fully human and looking back at him with sleepy eyes.

“Hi,” Alex says, stupidly.

“Hi,” Will says back, the words rough. Alex knows perfectly well he hasn’t had a voice for the last twenty-four hours, so he doesn’t bother worrying about it, just turns fully around and kisses Will like he’s been wanting to do for months. Will makes a soft noise and responds immediately, running a hand up and down Alex’s side and kissing back.

They kiss for a while, slowly but intently, savoring the opportunity. Finally Alex pulls back, and Will looks around at his room, then at Alex. He says, “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“What the fuck, of course I’d come!” Alex says, outraged. “I’m not just going to leave you alone with a team that can’t even tell what kind of a snake you are!”

Will, looking like he'd meant to say something else, frowns. “They’re good guys, Alex, they just didn’t know about this.”

Alex scoffs. “Sure, whatever you say.” Will draws back a little, and Alex remembers Marchessault’s face, along with the idea of Will just disappearing. “Shit, I’m sorry. They do seem like good guys, I’m just… why didn’t you tell them? It’s not safe for you to just randomly turn into a snake and not have anyone who even knows to look for you.”

Will looks sheepish as he says, “I thought I could control it. Also...” He trails off. Before Alex can ask what else, Will looks away from Alex and adds, “It felt better when I was leaving it to you. Like there was still something special between us. I like the idea of you taking care of me.” Will doesn’t blush often, but he’s doing it now. It stirs something inside of Alex, and he leans forward to press a kiss to Will’s cheekbone.

“Will, of course we still have something between us, something that’s ours,” and despite all his worry about the exact same thing earlier, Alex has never been more sure of something he's said. Remembering something else that had bothered him, he says, “Although next time, before leaving me as your emergency number, maybe tell your teammates that we’re dating?”

“They—they didn’t know?” Will asks, incredulous. “I told them I was meeting you for date night after the game! There’s literally a picture of you as my phone background!”

That answer wasn’t what Alex had been expecting. He realizes he’d only considered an intentional choice on Will’s part, too busy being insecure to bargain for the complete obliviousness that came with being a hockey player. Alex laughs, half in relief, half because his life is a comedy. “They just didn’t know?” he wheezes, still laughing.

Will’s still got a dumbstruck expression on his face. “How did they not know?” he asks again. Alex just shrugs, and Will shakes his head. “I don’t know what I expected.”

He looks adorable, frowning slightly in disbelief, so of course Alex has to kiss him. That leads to remembering that Will is naked, which leads to other things, such as the best (and only) blowjob Alex has gotten since they played Vegas in February, and Alex doing his best to touch Will all over like he’d promised the last time they'd talked on the phone.

Sprawled across the bed afterwards, Will asks tentatively, “Do you want to come to the game? It’s totally fine if you don’t, you can stay here. I just wondered if maybe you’re bored.”

“I was so bored without you, Will, you have no idea,” Alex tells him.

Will rolls his eyes. “I know you, I have a pretty good idea.”

Alex ignores that and thinks about the possibility of going to a game. The more he thinks about it, the more he likes the idea. “Yeah, I think I do want to come. But only if everyone knows I’m your trophy boyfriend,” he says, smirking. Will laughs at that, making the bed shake.

“Oh, Alex, why haven’t we done this before? Being a trophy boyfriend is your calling in life,” he teases.

“Mmmm, I know,” Alex says smugly.

Will laughs again and gets up. Crossing over to his dresser, he fishes around inside a drawer and pulls out a black hoodie with '71' emblazoned on the back in bright, sparkly gold. Alex grins and pulls it over his head when Will tosses it to him.

“How do I look?” he asks, sitting up.

“Perfect,” says Will, equal parts amused and serious. "You look perfect."

**Author's Note:**

> i just think ball pythons are super cute, and they make really good pets! uhhh that said- this story is Not how to take care of a real python, please don't listen to me.


End file.
